That damn photo
by RedHatMeg
Summary: Chapter 1: There is a photo hanged in Sue Dearbon's hideout - a photo of certain detective. Sue hates it. But she also loves it. Chapter 2: Ralph Dibny's crime board is filled with pictures of certain girl. But which one of them shows the real her? Contains spoilers for 6x12 and ElongSue. NOW A TWO-PARTER! MAY BECOME A THREE-PARTER!
1. That damn photo

**Whoo, boy, this is a doozie! First of, this is my first _Flash_ fic since 2014! And the reason for that is that I fell in love Ralph Dibny and Sue Dearbon after the last episode and they joined a really small list of pairings my non-shipping ass actually ships. See, normally I don't like romantic subplots because they involve stupid drama that's distracting from things I actually want to see/read (familiar love, crime fighting etc.). There are exceptions of it (mainly in Discworld series), but most of the time I hate it.**

**What caught my eye with Ralph and Sue is that they work together well and they are fun to watch. Then I've learnt that in the comics they are one of the few happy marriages in history of superhero fiction. So yeah, I want to see some more of them.**

**Now, the reason I've written this fic is that in the last scene of _Girl Named Sue_ we get to see Sue's hideout, and there are Ralph's pictures on it. One of them is Ralph's policeman photo, which I always liked because he looks really nice there. Either way, I was thinking that maybe, after their common adventure, this photo could gain additional meaning for Sue.**

**So here it is, people.**

**Please, leave a review.**

**That damn photo**

Sue grew to love and hate that photo.

Somehow this was the only clear picture of Ralph Dibny she could find – the only one where he was facing the camera and she had an opportunity to see him front and center. The other pictures of him she had were mostly photos from security cameras in Meister's place – many of them blurry and out of focus. Thanks to _that_ photo, she was able to have a little better look at her stalker.

He looked a bit boyish with this damn smile of his; this wide smile that seemed to belong to someone very idealistic and very friendly. At the same time one of his eyebrows was slightly raised, giving him a bit mischievous look.

Back when Sue obtained the photo, she thought that he wasn't actually looking half bad. Now, after she actually met him, whenever she was looking at this picture, she remembered how he was smiling at her. She was remembering his joking smiles, triumphant smiles, sad smiles, sympathetic smiles… and the look of betrayal on his face when she closed the cage behind him and he realized she wasn't after Loring's ledger, but after the diamond. She was playing a cat burglar, she wanted him to think that she was there for the thrill of the chase and for Loring's valuables; she wanted him to think that she used him for her own greed… but some part of her didn't want to do it. She knew she had to, if she wished to go on with her plan, but there was something about his face that made her feel a little pang of guilt.

He had a beautiful smile on this photo. More often than not, she was finding herself admiring it. Come to think of it, he was quite a handsome man. A tall blonde with pointy nose. And after spending some time with him, she learned that, in the flesh, he was taller than she anticipated.

He was also smarter and boy, did she like her men smart! When she was looking at him on that damn photo, she wondered how a policeman Ralph Dibny was like. How many cases this big brain of his managed to crack open, how many criminals he managed to put in a jail. She wouldn't be surprised if he was an amazing detective.

Sue felt a pang of sadness. In that damn photo he was standing tall in front of a background of American flag. He was wearing this police uniform proudly, which only added to the impression of boyish idealism.

One bad decision destroyed all of it. As a policeman he was finished. Sue suspected he loved his job at the police station and probably, back then, he thought that he was crossing the line for the sake of justice. She could imagine how something like that – how being fired from one's dream job – could make a person a cynical, broken mess. And from what Sue gathered, for quite some time Ralph Dibny really was a cynical, broken mess. Some would even say that it was his moral downfall, considering that he was hanging around with a wrong crowd.

And yet somehow when she met him, he seemed to still be idealistic, downright heroic even. In fact, Sue gathered that about a year or two ago he went straight. Something happened, something that made him regain some of his previous idealism. It probably had something to do with his superpowers. Somehow Sue doubted it was a one night thing. This had to be a slow, painful process, maybe even it involved other heroes guiding him the whole way so he could go from a cynical, lecherous disgraced officer Ralph Dibny to a heroic and helpful Elongated Man. He obviously loved being a superhero – saving people, making difference, being a good person. Maybe he missed it for all those years in disgrace.

Some part of her still couldn't quite believe that Ralph Dibny was Elongated Man; and that he revealed his identity to her. Well, the situation was dire and, in the heat of the moment, he probably couldn't think of anything better… Still he took a huge risk. Because he trusted her. It's understandable, really, they were working together and she saved his ass earlier. At this point, he didn't have a reason to not trust her.

And then she betrayed his trust and threatened to betray it even further by revealing his superhero identity. Right now, when she thought about it, she came to conclusion that she probably would do that. Not after learning what kind of man he was, but not only that – it would be putting him and everything he cares about in an enormous danger. Of course, there probably weren't as many things that could hurt a man with rubber skin. Still, after their departure, Sue made a mental note that Ultraviolet's weapon was one of them.

Black Hole absolutely shouldn't know that Ralph Dibny is the Elongated Man. And it meant that Sue shouldn't involve him into this case and should stay away from him. At least for now.

So there she was, sitting in her little hideout, surrounded by tech and notes on her investigation. And on the wall – among many others – was hanged that damn photo. More often than not, Sue was catching herself gazing at it.

Sue hated that damn photo. She hated that it was making her miss a guy she only met once. She hated that it was reminding her of him when she had so much more important things to do. She also hated that whenever she was looking at this boyish smile, she was thinking about the moment when she left the Ralph, lying on the ground, injured and heartbroken.

But at the same time Sue loved that damn photo too. She loved that it was depicting Ralph Dibny smiling with this mischievous smile. She loved that she could look at it in a moment of doubt and she was instantly remembering his words about being a hero. She loved that after looking at it so often, she learned by heart almost every detail of his face. She loved that it was making her remember this short time she spent with him – how he made her laugh, how he helped her and how he was able to understand her so quickly.

He must be thinking the worst of her right now. It's not easy to recover from broken heart. Maybe one day she will explain everything to him; and maybe then he will be understanding enough to forgive her. She would really like to meet him again one day.

But for now she only had that damn photo.


	2. These damn photos

**So I wrote a sequel to this thing...**

**Look, when I've finished That damn photo, I've already got an idea for a sequel/partnerfic that would showcase Ralph's thought process when he was looking at the pictures of Sue on his crime board, especially after the events of _Girl Named Sue_. These are all product of my reflections on Ralph's perception of Sue during that episode.**

**I may make it a three-parter because I have one more idea for a fanfic with these two involving photos.**

**Anyway, please, review.**

**These damn photos**

Ralph told Barry and Iris that he was going to tear down his crime board… and at first he really was going to do it, however, when he looked at the board, covered with all the hard work he has done throughout these nine months, he decided that no, he wasn't going to just give up. If Sue Dearbon thought he will just let her run away, she was going to be sorely mistaken. And so Ralph Dibny found himself with a new determination.

Yes she tricked him. Yes, she made him feel all those feelings for her and then she betrayed him. Yes, she broke his heart. But it didn't mean it was going to be over, oh no, he was going to find Sue and bring her back to her parents, or die trying. He also wanted to know what was she up to. Somehow he was convinced that there was something more to her than meets the eye.

It were these damn photos that made him that way. First they were making him angry – at Sue _and_ at himself. He got played like a fiddle, but he was partially to blame too – after all, he created this whole image of a lost damsel in distress; a high class dame tangled in trouble and in need of saving. Sue just filled in the rest with her sob story about Loring going after her. He believed her lies, because in his mind she was a princess in need of a rescue.

He got this idea about her from those photos.

First, a bit on the right from the left corner was a picture of her in an evening dress, glass of Champaign in the right hand, the left hand on the hip. She had those earrings that consisted of tiny chains and were ending with little balls. She was stunning, really; everything about her was emanating confidence. She was a socialite; she belonged to a different world – a world filled with riches, high class and luxury. She knew which cutlery goes with which dish. She was attending galas and balls. If one wanted to be somebody in higher places, one had to associate with her and her family. In some ways, Dearbons were modern day aristocracy.

When Ralph was looking for her around the world, he got a chance to meet with the wealthy elite, and as much as it was fun to go on luxury parties, drink expensive booze, being surrounded with rich and famous, he didn't feel quite well around them. It was like stumbling into _The Great Gatsby_ – everything was shining, everything was gold, but there wasn't much else into it. In fact, more often than not, he found some of those people quite shallow.

But two newspapers clippings away from socialite Sue, there was another photo that proved she wasn't just a pretty face. Standing in her graduation toga was Sue Dearbon, probably depicted in the middle of delivering her graduation speech. The more Ralph was learning about the girl he was looking for, the more he was convinced that a lot of effort was put into her education. She studied on MIT, she knew six languages, she was horse riding and she was travelling the world to better understand it. The MIT alone was no small feat so Ralph suspected that she had to be quite bright.

One row under the MIT grad Sue there was a horse rider Sue standing next to a beautiful brown horse, the kind of horse little girls would dream of riding. She was smiling widely, probably after a triumphal win in a horse race. Horse riding was such a cliché entertainment of the upper class. Gotta show those peasants that the wealthy had much better things to do than playing basketball or going to cinema. Once again Ralph felt that he and Sue lived in two different worlds.

For some guys, a girl like that would be enough to feel somewhat inadequate. Ralph, who grew up without father; who spent most of his life in one city; who was hanging around in some shady places and got fired from police for planting the evidence, knew a girl like that, a girl from a "good house" would never look at him twice. And maybe it was 2020 and not 19th century, but in some circles old money was everything. Besides, some believed that a man should always prove himself worthy of the woman he loved.

And on the left from the horse riding Sue, in the center of the crime board there was a photo of… Sue.

Just… Sue. An ordinary girl with dark hair, dark eyes and red blouse. She was looking at him with a light smile, the kind of a smile one gives for a School Yearbook – not exactly happy, but not exactly forced either.

This damn photo was Ralph's favorite. Because it was reminding him that as much as Sue Dearbon seemed to have almost everything, deep down she was just an ordinary girl, who went missing. And when he was looking at this photo, Ralph got the impression that this Sue was far more sympathetic, far more interesting and far more real than Sue socialite. For all those months, while looking for her in various places, Ralph was often gazing at this photo and wondering what kind of person Sue Dearbon really was. Was she snobbish? Was she nice? What kind of movies she liked? Maybe if he and she met each other and talked a bit, they would get along just fine.

But then he finally met her. She proved to be hella smart (but then again – he should already know it from what he's gathered about her), and knew how to punch a bad guy. There was even a moment when they were even getting along. Ralph thought that he finally met the real Sue Dearbon – snarky, brave and clever. And when they were talking, when they were planning to get Loring's ledger, when they were sneaking around together, doing detective work, Ralph felt like he just found his soulmate.

Alas, he forgot that in a noir movies and novels there was always a Femme Fatale – a beautiful woman with ulterior motives who gets the hard-boiled detective into trouble. The real Sue Dearbon first left him in a vault, and then left him again – on the ground, injured and lonely. Real Sue Dearbon didn't want to take down Loring, she just wanted to rob him. Real Sue Dearbon didn't care about justice.

_Sue, was anything you've told me real?_

_Yes. And no._

Ralph was thinking about this exchange a lot, while looking at these damn photos. He was wondering what she meant by "yes" and what she meant by "no". Because it implied that there were times when she was honest with him; there were times when she didn't lie. He reminisced about this short time they've spent with each other and tried to decipher when she was telling the truth and when she was lying. Cecile said that they were "surfing on the same waves" and her empathic powers were quite accurate, so maybe that time in the Jitters Sue wasn't deceiving him. Sue also seemed to be honest when she was telling him about being lost… then again she could be just acting that way to manipulate him. Finally she helped him when he got indisposed due to Ultraviolet's beams. She still left him on the ground, but she also gave Flash and the police enough time to come to his rescue.

In the end, all of these damn photos of Sue Dearbon turned out to not showcase the real her. Even the photo on the center of the board was a lie. But it was an important wake up call; Ralph needed to see that she was neither a spoiled socialite, nor a damsel in distress; to see what was really underneath her. Still, somewhere, in the back of his head, Ralph knew that there was more to Sue Dearbon; far, _far_ more than it seemed originally.

And he was going to get to the bottom of this.


End file.
